Welcome! I’m so glad you’ve stopped by, pull up a chair.
I’m a writer, editor, and former pastor who enjoys feeding shepherds and amplifying womens’ voices.
I’ve shaped faith conversations across multiple platforms and have been involved in the development or editing of multiple books by traditionally published writing veterans and first-time authors.
Projects include line editing the collaborative devotional This Holy Calling: Daily Wisdom by Women in Ministry for Women in Ministry and and providing developmental and copy editing for the initial publication of Saints Alive! 30 Days of Pilgrimage with the Saints by Maxie D. Dunnam.
As Managing Editor of Wesleyan Accent, I coached and edited academic and clergy contributors from multiple Wesleyan Methodist denominations, growing reach and amplifying voices across denominational silos. As Associate Director for Community and Creative Development for World Methodist Evangelism, I connected siloed leaders and shaped resources for pastors and church leaders.
With an M.A. in Theological Studies from Asbury Theological Seminary and a B.A. in Christian Ministries from Indiana Wesleyan University, I approached pastoral and campus ministry with an eye for cultural anthropology and practical theological application. I also enjoyed cheering cohorts of remote MDiv students as a spiritual director for United Theological Seminary. I’ve been the featured speaker for a variety of groups and congregations.
My articles, interviews, and book reviews appear on websites like Wesleyan Accent, Seedbed, Annesley Writers, and Sacred Alliance and in magazines including Wesleyan Life and Risen. I had the pleasure of interviewing Douglas Gresham, C.S. Lewis’ stepson, as well as author and church leader Kay Warren. I’ve contributed chapters to The Philosophy of Sherlock Holmes and The Sound of Revival as well as entries to the forthcoming Historical Dictionary of Methodism.
As a freelance writer and editor, I’ve coached emerging writers and tailored communications for non-profit, for-profit, and faith-based clients and organizations. In 2023, I launched FireFall, a weekly cross-denominational newsletter amplifying women around the globe leading in pastoral ministry and the academy.
Descriptions of Elizabeth’s writing and editorial work range from the glowing, “an incredibly sharp theological mind, and a beautiful way with words. She is a natural writer, incisive, careful, and creative,” on the one hand, to this stinker - “cheesy and pretentious” - on the other.
Well, you can’t please everyone.
BREAD FOR SHEPHERDS & FIREFALL
Currently, my newsletters are written primarily with pastors, church leaders, and scholars in mind, though all are welcome to leave the potatoes half-peeled and listen in. I have two newsletters:
FireFall is a free weekly newsletter amplifying women around the world leading in pastoral ministry and the academy. FireFall evokes Acts 2 as well as another passage I love: 1 Kings 18-19.
As an amplifying resource hub, FireFall is more traffic circle with a coffee shop on the side than final destination. The weekly FireFall newsletter highlights, celebrates, and links to curated multi-denominational, global resources that are currently scattered across the internet and often at the mercy of imperfect algorithms.
From practical tools, books, and podcasts to denominational resources and higher education centers to academic journal articles, scholarly work, and global historical archives, there’s plenty to inspire, equip, and connect.
(I’ll be sending readers to well-known, phenomenally archived organizations like CBE regularly. At the same time, I’ve also continued to discover helpful resources hours deep into search engine research: no pastor has time for that.)
FireFall free subscribers receive a weekly Monday newsletter amplifying the resources of others. FireFall paid subscribers can comment and interact in community (paid subscriptions are speed bumps for trolls) and receive original content as well.
(If you’re broke, email me. If you’re doing okay, share a gift subscription.)
I’m warmly Wesleyan-Methodist but ecumenical, and FireFall is warmly ecumenical, bridging siloed leaders. I’ll share books, articles, and videos from a variety of traditions, including Reformed, Anabaptist, and even a few Catholic and Orthodox.
How I Decide Which Sources to Share by or about Women in Ministry
I can’t possibly read or listen to every source I want to highlight and share. So: discern among yourselves.
My general vetting goes something like:
Does this source seem warmly Trinitarian?
Does this source receive Scripture as the inspired Word of God?
Does this source receive and proclaim Jesus Christ as the Word Made Flesh, incarnate and resurrected?
Does this source include or make room for leaders who are Trinitarian and believe in the uniqueness of Christ?
Does this source celebrate, accept, or at least make room for the ordination of women, women in church leadership and pastoral ministry, and women preachers?
Is the source itself recommended by those who generally agree on faith essentials?
Is this source part of an organization that seems to have healthy connections and practices?
This means as I curate resources by and about women in ministry, I might not agree with some sources on some matters.
Isn’t that…kind of fantastic? I’m not a Calvinist, but if a jacketless Presbyterian preacher is stuck using a lapel mic and she needs help figuring out where to clip it five minutes before service starts, I’ve got her back. Or collar. Or wherever the dang thing will clip. (I’d help an atheist academic with her lapel mic too, but I don’t anticipate sharing an abundance of resources on women in ministry from atheists. Happy to share a bowl of chips with atheists, though.)
What I hope to avoid: linking to a leader who’s later discovered in a broken-down submarine in a cult with Nicholas Cage and an alien. There’s nothing I can do about that, I just hope to avoid it. If you find out I’ve linked to someone who’s in a submarine cult with Nicholas Cage and an alien, please, let me know.
FireFall resourcing links to featured organizations, podcasts, conferences, books, educational institution centers, and denominations as well as diverse women leading Christ’s church around the world by pastoring, preaching, studying, teaching, organizing, and mobilizing. Most resources are by women; some are scholarly work about women in ministry.
Bread for Shepherds is an archived series of Lent 2023 devotionals for tired pastors, church leaders, and seminarians. Currently, the Lent 2023 devotional reflections for pastors are a free resource.
Integrating scriptural narratives like Elijah burned-out after a showdown, the shell of a woman who encountered the Messiah at a well in Samaria, and zealous Saul turned blinded Paul, these reflections include insights from artists, writers, and figures like Makoto Fujimura, William Blake, Louis Zamperini, and more.
Additional Bread for Shepherds is likely forthcoming.
Enjoy browsing the archives or subscribe to receive future devotional writing in your inbox.
These reflections are for everyone; yes, complementarians, too. If you’re a worn-out, hungry shepherd and there’s something at this table for you, help yourself; you don’t have to agree with me, just take what you need.
